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Sunday, 5 April 2009

Geoffroy De Crecy "Bubblicious" (Rex The Dog)

I met a thirteen year old yesterday who is to go to Bristol University in the summer for a course in animation. Stop motion is his favoured technique he told me sagely. This is for him and also the first in a series of posts previewing the short list of music videos selected for this year's Annecy festival. Bubblicious showcases Rex the Dog in a track with traces in the music of the old Led Zeppelin, I think, sort of building up in urgency as the action moves from blocks of white card cut out to fully, if chunkily, formed dog on the night club stage funking it out. As the camera records the action the dog is formed, facial expressions roll off the printer and onto the dog allowing its eyes to follow the action. A laying on of hands and Rex and his little doggie companions are all action, stage set created, lights added and the gig commences. Alcoholic cocktails and bright lights all become too much for the poor mutt. Luckily the devine hand of man can clean up the mess. Stop motion with this sense of sheer fun is magic and the director adds little comic flourishes throughout leaving never a dull moment. Eight models of the singer and twelve for the dog were made in the production, the whole thing filmed with a Canon d200 though Geoffrey has said it was the lighting that took the time to get right. A director now for eight years Geoffroy studied History and Political Science prior to being drawn into the industry when making a very successful animation for his brother Etienne. He set up his own Dummy Productions in Paris though the piece was commissioned by Partizan Lab. I shall be looking at Geoffrey's other work, often for British clients, in a forthcoming post.